Electric connector for remotely controlled electric heating and cooking vessels



Feb. 9, 11965 JEPSQN FM IMII ELECTRIC CONNECTOR FOR REMOTELY CONTROLLED ELECTRIC HEATING AND COOKING VESSELS Original Filed June l1, 1956 I 90C I .L 77//9- l 4 1 73 8 a I f 97 8 93 l .97 C lOl lo,

INVENTOR .inserted or withdrawn therefrom.

States Pate ar The present invention relates to remotely controlled electric heating and cooking vessels and, more particularly, to an electric connector arrangement for cooking vessels with built-in heating units which may be accurately controlled at all times with respect to temperature from a control unit remote with respect to the vessel. This invention is a division of copending application Serial No. 590,694 (series of 1948), led June 11, 1956, which matured to Patent Number 3,098,918, issued on July 23, 1963, `and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.

When an electric cooking appliance contains an electric heating element and a heat sensing device in intimate contact with the bottom of the vessel, a suitable enclosure must be provided to protect these units from moisture during the cleaning operation subsequent to the use thereof. The enclosure should not only be watertight but must be hermetically sealed in order that a vacuum be maintained to reduce the pressure variations during the heating cycle. Hermetically sealing an enclosure presents problems inelectrically communicating between the internal heating element and a suitable power supply and also between the sensing device and control system since this communication requires that terminals'pass through the enclosure. Normally 'an easily damaged ceramic seal is employed to seal the terminals which are adapted to Y receive an electric power connecton Considerable danger of breaking the ceramic seal is encountered whenever an ordinary commercially available connector is either inserted or withdrawn with a slight angular or bending motion. Once the ceramic seal is broken, expensive repairs would be required in an elort to salvage thev appliance. Since the electric cooking appliance normally requires from to l5 amperes, a sound electrical Contact between the terminal and the connector is essential to pre vent arcing.` lf too great a tension or pressure is em-v ployed between any of the terminals .andthe ordinary plug, the ceramic seals could easily be broken during the inserting or withdrawing of the plug. Also if the alignment between the terminals and the openings in an ordinary plug is not perfect, the seals would be subjected to dangerous bending stresses.

Accordingly, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide a terminal plug that will have good electrical v contact with each terminal of a hermetically sealed cooking vessel without causing damage to the terminal seals.

It is a further objectof thepresent inventionrto provide a terminal plug that will greatly minimize the danger of breakingthe ceramic terminal seals when the plug `is It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector whereby the alignment betweenthe terminals and the corresponding openings in the connector is not v critical.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention 1 will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of an improved electric connector;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 1, assuming that FlG. l shows the complete structure;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 1, also assuming that FIG. 1 shows the complete structure; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 1, assuming that FIG. 1 shows the complete structure.

To supply electrical energy to a heating element in a hermetically sealed chamber under a cooking vessel or pan, not shown, it is customary to provide a so-called plug receptacle for the reception of a cooperating plug connector.` As illustrated in the drawings, a plug receptacle 83 is provided which is secured by suitable fastening means 89 to the exterior of the vertical wall 70h of the pan, so as to enclose and protect from damage during service the portions of three electric receptacle terminals 7l, 72 and '73 extending outside the hermetically sealed chamber. As best shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the walls deiining the protective plug receptacle 38 are provided on either side with a pair of openings 88a, the purpose of which will become apparent from the ensuing description.

To make electrical connection with the terminal contacts 71a, 72a`and '73a extending into the plug receptacle 3 there is provided, in accordance with the present invention, Van improved plug connector 90, best shown in FIGS. Vl, 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings. As illustrated, this plug connector is preferably formed of two molded parts 9de and 99h clamped together by a suitable rivet 91 or other fastening means.` Housed within the connector 90 are a plurality of'spring biased contacts, specifically designated as 92, 93 and 94, for respectively engaging the terminal contacts 71a, 72a and 73a through opening90c in the connector which are sufficiently large to accommodate for slight misalignrnent between the corresponding contacts. These spring biased contacts are each designated as being supported on a separate spring structure member shaped somewhat in the form of a sine wave. The contacts 92 and 94 which carry the main heating current are illustrated as being supported on a somewhat heavier conductor 95, best shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. The contact 93 on the other hand is supported on a smaller, but similar, spring conductor 96. These spring conductors 95 and 96 bias the associated contacts 92, 93

. and 94 in a direction to make good sliding electrical conand 73a when the plug connector 90 is inserted into the receptacle 8S. The spring conductors 95 and 96 are electrically connected with the appropriate conductors in a power cord, not shown. To make sure that such connections are maintained, the plug connector is prefer- .ably provided with a pair of latch members 97 for making latching engagement with the openings 83d in the plug receptacle 88, as clearly shown' inFIG. 1 of the drawings.

The latch members 97 are preferably disposed in suitable recesses, such as 99, dened in the connector 90. A suitable spring wire iut), provided for each latch member 97, biases it into latching position. Preferably, a pair, of

Y manually actuated members 101 extend outside the plug connector 90 for ready manual engagement by the operatorto release the latches`97. These manually actuated members lill have the configuration shown best in'FIG. 4 of the drawings to permit ready assembly thereof before the hous'ingpartsl 96a and 90b are secured together.

Since the present invention illustrates an electrically.

heated appliance, rather heavy electrical loads of l0 to l5 amperes can be expected and safeguards must be present il contac's li and will enjoy a long service life to circumvent th exense involved in the replacement of said contacts. The individually biased contact springs must be adjusted so that the contacts 72a, 72a and 73a are forced into good electrical connection and yet the pressure must not be great enough to crack brittle ceramic moisture seals 7d. The correct individual pressure is insured because the latching arrangement will lock the connector 9i) into the plug receptacle 8S in the identical position each time.

In view of the tact that the flat contacts are forced into electrical connection by biasing springs, the aiignrnent between the terminal "il, '72 and and the contacts 92, 93 and 94, respectively, is not critical to either good electrical Contact or causing damage to the brittle ceran seal 741. Thus, the likelihood of breaking hermetic seal 7d due to improper alignment is completely eliminated. Also, the limited clearance between the outside of the corr nector and the inside or tbe receptacle coupied with the ample clearance between the terminal contacts and the corresponding openings in the connector guarantees that the ceramic seal '74 will not he broken due to the operator inserting or withdrawing the connector with an angular motion. Therefore, the terminal contacts are subjected to only compressive forces and whereby avoiding damage to ceramic seals.

While there has been illustrated and described one embodiment of the present invention, it will be obvious to those slrilled in the art that various changes and modiiications thereof may be made, and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all those changes and modications as all within the true spirit and scope' of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to besecured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1, An electric connectortor use with a receptacle having a terminal, comprising a hollow insulating support member enclosingv at least one electrically conductive conipressionspring eachhaving a substantially sinusoidal shape with an electric Contact surface near one end thereof, said support member deiining an opening aiording access to seid Contact surface, said spring being disposedin frontof said opening and oriented so that its principal'axis of compression extends through said opening, said spring connected to said member at a point remote from said contact surface so that the engagement between said contact surface and lterminal causes said Vspring to bias said support member away from the receptacie, and manually rei adapted tovloclr said met oer in engag receptacle whereby said sn* urges said face into good electrical connection with the only a compressional force is exerted therebetween.

2. The connector of claim l wherein said releasing means includes latch means pivotally mounted on said supportV member, outwardly to a lockingposition, and manually actionable means straddling s 'd latch means and nested partially within said support member whereby compressing force applied to said actuating means depresses ser. iatch means for releasing said suppo- I ember from the receptacle.

3. The connector or claim i wherein said support member comprising two mold parts which are clamped together and securely hold therebetween the end of sai-:l spring remote from said contact surface.

4. The connector of claim l wherein said support member has an outside suriace adapted to mate w .li the recel tacle terminal.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNiT'ED STATES PATENTS 1,364,262 Faber ian. 4, i921 i,567, 'r74 Tomlinson Dec. 29, i925V l,896,948 Gough 1Feb. 7, i933 2,t6,l25 Lacy .inne 30, i936 2,136,057 Olshanslcy Nov. 8, i938 2,183,651 Langston et al. Dec. i9, i939 2,236,238 vLacy Mar. 25, i941 2,360,444 Poliock Oct. 17, 19M 2,369,869 Schroeder `web. 253, 1945 2,410,6'l8 Zelov illov.V 5, i945 2,528,1l Turner Oct. 3l, i950 2,701,867 Gbsenschain etal. Feb 8, i955 2,748,362 Andis lviay 29, 1956 j 2,963,569 Levineet ai. Y Dee. 6, i965 FOREIGN PATENTS v 652,140 VGermany Oct. ,26,` i937 733,154 Gerin-any f Mar. 19, 1943 748,209 Germany Nov. lil, i944 215,539 Great ain May i', i924 295,765 Great Britain Aug. 273, i928 526,562 italy i8, i955 'ing means biasing said laten. meansV 

1. AN ELECTRIC CONNECTOR FOR USE WITH A RECEPTACLE HAVING A TERMINAL, COMPRISING A HOLLOW INSULATING SUPPORT MEMBER ENCLOSING AT LEAST ONE ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE COMPRESSION SPRING EACH HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY SINUSOIDAL SHAPE WITH AN ELECTRIC CONTACT SURFACE NEAR ONE END THEREOF, SAID SUPPORT MEMBER DEFINING AN OPENING AFFORDING ACCESS TO SAID CONTACT SURFACE, SAID SPRING BEING DISPOSED IN FRONT OF SAID OPENING AND ORIENTED SO THAT ITS PRINCIPAL AXIS OF COMPRESSION EXTENDS THROUGH SAID OPENING, SAID SPRING CONNECTED TO SAID MEMBER AT A POINT REMOTE FROM SAID CONTACT SURFACE SO THAT THE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN SAID CONTACT SURFACE AND TERMINAL CAUSES SAID SPRING TO BIAS SAID SUPPORT MEMBER AWAY FROM THE RECEPTACLE, AND MANUALLY RELEASING MEANS ON SAID MEMBER ADAPTED TO LOCK SAID MEMBER IN ENGAGEMENT WTIH THE RECEPTACLE WHEREBY SAID SPRING URGES SAID CONTACT SURFACE INTO GOOD ELECTRICAL CONNECTION WITH THE TERMINAL AND ONLY A COMPRESSIONAL FORCE IS EXERTED THEREBETWEEN. 